Bulldogs looking for bench help

February 1, 2011

By MATTHEW STEVENSsdnsports@bellsouth.net
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Victory or not, Mississippi Stateâs role players know they canât afford another disappointing outcome similar to what they showed Saturday.
In the Bulldogs 71-64 victory against then-No.24 Florida, only four MSU players registered in the scoring column. It was the first time that few players put up points since a 76-71 victory at Oklahoma on Feb. 10, 1996.
The players deep in the MSU rotation realize that type of effort isnât going work on the road against the Western Division leader of the Southeastern Conference.
âItâs kind of crazy that we were able to beat a team of Floridaâs caliber with only four guys scoring,â senior guard Riley Benock said.
Benock was one of the five guys that played who was held scoreless and it marked only first time since last seasonâs NIT second round loss to North Carolina when the 6-foot-4 guard was wiped off the scorebook.
âItâs definitely not something we want to be a recurring theme or anything like that,â Benock said. âWeâre going to need more production from all across the board.â
Stansbury laughed off his disappointment in the bench production because he was too busy celebrating an upset over a nationally-ranked opponent.
âWhen you win, you look at that column over there (and) you donât care if you have one guy, two guys, three guys (or) 13 guys score,â Stansbury said. âNaturally Iâve had games where 14 guys score and you lose the game.â
The 13-year head coach mentioned increasing production in the non-starters could be as easy as finishing layups from Stateâs inexperienced players during a key moment.
âI donât think Wendell (Lewis) will miss three layups in a game again,â Stansbury said. âItâs an unusual stat but we need more off our bench. All of sudden you finish those layupsâŚmaybe that score isnât what it is down the stretch.ââ¨Lewis, a 6-foot-8 sophomore forward from Selma, Ala., is looking to build on the career high 10 points in last monthâs 75-57 loss at Humphrey Coliseum to the Crimson Tide.
âItâs our turn to go back and pay them the favor of beating them in their place,â Lewis said. âWe need to keep it going and keep pushing forward.â
That disappointing 18-point loss in Starkville marked the return of junior Dee Bost and sophomore Renardo Sidney from suspensions and the Bulldogs (11-9, 3-3 in SEC play) couldnât find any chemistry on either end of the floor.
âI feel like weâre a lot better,â Bost said. âWe didnât really have too much time to work together. This game right here will determine a lot.â
In that victory in Starkville, Alabama forward JaMychal Green surprised State defenders with his ability to step out and sink 15-foot jump shots over Lewis and fellow McDonaldâs All-American selection Sidney.
âWe have to have more attention to his ability to shoot that basketball out there at that perimeter,â Stansbury said. â(Green) was one of the two top or three centers coming out as a senior in high school. Everybody projected heâd be in college one year, now heâs back for his junior year.â
With Alabama (13-7, 5-1) still leading the league in scoring defense (57.3 points per game), Stansbury describes his view of this upcoming contest in Coleman Coliseum tonight (7 p.m., SEC Network) as a âugly game.'
âItâs going to be a grind-out game because defensively theyâre really good,â Stansbury said. âIt used to be pressing teams, running and gunning with the Floridaâs and Kentuckyâs and that tempo stuff that everybody wanted to do. You donât see a lot of that anymore.â
Alabama hasnât swept the season series with the Bulldogs since 2005 and if they are able to do so, theyâll have a two-game lead with a tiebreaker over every team in the Western Division.
âOur guys understand our roles better, and with the experiences we had in November and December, I think we learned a lot," Alabama head coach Anthony Grant said. "The success we've had of late has given our team some confidence as far as what we're capable of doing."